From the Outside Looking In
by mustbethemusic
Summary: Ron suspects something going on between Hermione and Ginny.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I've always loved the sort of outside looking in perspective. I dunno why, but it's always sort of intrigued me. So here's my shot at it.

It's in Ron's POV, by the way.

–

"Harry!" You roar, making your way down the rest of the stairs to pull him into a one armed hug. "Glad you could make it for the summer, mate!"

"Yeah," Harry rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed. "The Dursley's have been driving me mad."

"Right," you say, nodding and moving to grab his trunk. "I can barely handle those crazy muggles for an hour, let alone a whole summer!" You begin to haul it up the stairs.

Harry shrugs. "I've had time to get used to it, I guess."

You and Harry are up the stairs, in your room, and have his trunk halfway empty before you ask, "What's wrong, mate? You seem a little down."

This startles him. He doesn't think you for a very observant person. "Oh, er," He fiddles with a loose string on his t-shirt. "Nothing important."

"Nothing important? Are you sure? It's nothing about," You pause and take a breath. "V-You-Know-Who, is it?"

Harry waves his hand dismissively. "No, no. Nothing of the sort."

"Then what?"

He sighs. "Come off it, Ron. It's no big deal."

"C'mon Harry,"

"It's-it's Ginny." Harry's shoulders slump at her name. "She-we broke up a few days ago."

"Oh," You try and act surprised, disappointed even, that they're through, and a part of you is. But there's a part of you that is actually a bit happy. Harry's your best mate and everything but, let's be real here, Ginny's your _sister_, you hardly wanted _Dean's_ hands all over her, not to mention your best friend's.

"Tough break," You add.

"Yeah." Harry's eyebrows furrow. "But, she said something about there being 'someone else'. It's been bugging me,"

"Someone _else_?" Damn your sister moves fast.

Harry begins to reply, but gets interrupted by Ginny's voice screeching "Hermione's here, Hermione's here!" down the hall.

You spot Ginny taking the stairs 2 at a time, but you and Harry take a much slower pace. By the time you get downstairs, it's clear that Ginny has already greeted her friend, and your mum is ushering her into the kitchen, muttering something about 'I need to fatten you kids up. Just look how bony you are!'"

You smell food cooking and immediately migrate towards the kitchen, taking a seat at the dining room table. Your mum drops a bowl of soup in front of you and then pats Hermione's shoulder when she does the same to her.

"How has your summer been, dear?"

"Very well, actually. I'd gotten some books from the library for some light summer reading-" And by summer reading you know she means large, thousand page tomes she'd found in a dusty corner of the library.

When she's finished with her soup, she insists on helping your mum with the dishes. Your mom refuses -"It's only a few bowls, dear. Why don't you and Ginny go up to her room for a while?"-but Hermione is persistent.

Until Ginny comes up behind her and whispers something into her ear from over her shoulder and Hermione pinkens.

"Er, Mrs. Weasley-"

Your mother smiles, knowing she's won their argument. "Go on." She shoos them away with a washcloth.

The blush is faint on Hermione's cheeks as they make their way up the stairs, and then Ginny-

And then Ginny _smacks Hermione on the bum! _And Hermione just laughs!

That's...is that normal? For _friends_ to act like that?

You mean, sure they've always been close but...

But that's just bloody _weird_.

–

A/N: Was it alright? I'm thinking of doing maybe one or two more chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This is long overdue, but I'm just really idea deprived lately.

–

"C'mere, you little bugger," You grunt, dashing around your living room. "C'mon, it's time to get ready for bed."

"No!" Your cousin, Johnathan, squeals, doing another lap around the couch. "No!"

You groan, waving Johnathan's pajamas around your head in frustration.

"Why are they staying with us, again?" You turn, exasperated, to Ginny, who is curled up on the couch with Hermione, reading a book to Jonathan's sister, Julie. Your sister looks up at you. "Because Aunt Muriel had to go on a business trip for the Ministry, remember?"

"Right," You mutter, glaring at Johnathan, who is now making a mad dash around the kitchen.

"What's it gonna take to get you to bed, kid?" You ask.

"Hmm." Johnathan puts his chin between his thumb and pointer finger, as if thinking really hard about the answer. His eyes wander around the room, and they stop on the cookie jar above the fridge.

"Cookie!" He points, jumping up and down. "Cookie, cookie, cook-"

"Alright!" You put your hands up in surrender. "Okay, you can have a bloody cookie!"

"Yay!" Johnathan claps his hands together as you reach into the jar and produce a chocolate chip one. You squat down so you're eye level with your small cousin. "Here." You hand him the treat, and he takes a large bite out of it, chewing slowly as if judging the taste of it. He smiles, nods, and takes another bite.

"Yeah?" You ask nodding your head too. "Okay, now how about we get ready for bed?"

Johnathan looks at you a moment, before laughing, and once again saying-you guessed it- "No!", spraying your face with crumbs of chocolate chip cookie.

"I give up," You say, walking back into the living room and tossing Johnathan's pajamas on Ginny's head. "I tried. Your turn," You only catch Ginny ripping the garment of her head and Hermione rolling her eyes before you turn on and ascend the stairs two at a time.

You make sure to enter your room quietly-Harry went to bed early, something about his scar hurting-barely bothering to take your shoes off before you flop onto your bed and close your eyes. Being a Weasley, it takes only a few moments before you drift off to sleep.

–

The sound of Ginny and Hermione climbing the stairs to Ginny's bedroom rouses you, and you roll over to face the door, watching the yellow glow of the hall light filtering into your room through the gap on the bottom of the door.

You hear giggling, presumably Ginny's, then a soft thump on the wall straight across from the door. It's silent for a moment, then you hear your sister whisper, "I can't believe you got them to go to bed. It usually takes us until about two in the morning to get them settled down."

"I'm good with kids, I guess. I think I once read a book-"

"Of course you did," Ginny interrupts. It's silent for a moment, and you think they've gone to bed, but then you hear Ginny add something else so softly you can barely hear it; "You're going to be a wonderful mother someday."

Hermione mutters a bashful sounding "Thank you," before the shuffling of footsteps is heard and you hear Ginny's door close softly.

It's just a simple compliment, but it's something about the way Ginny said it...

Something seems fishy, you think, and you make a mental note to investigate tomorrow before rolling over and resuming your slumber.

–

A/N: Reviews are wonderful motivators.


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